Cano vs.
Director of Lands Held:
No. L-10701. January 16, 1959]
Doctrine:
Facts:
1. Land Registration Case No. 12: CFI of Sorsogon decreed the registration
of Lots Nos. 1798 and 1799 of the Juban (Sorsogon) Cadastre under the
following conditions: xx that the two parcels of land described in plan
SWO-24152, known as Lots Nos. 1798 and 1799 of the Cadastral Survey
of Juban, with their improvements, be registered in the name of Maria
Cano (reservista), Filipina, 71 years of age, widow and resident of
Juban, province of Sorsogon, with the understanding that Lot No. 1799
shall be subject to the right of reservation in favor of Eustaquia
Guerrero pursuant to Article 891 of the Civil Code xx.
2. The decision being final, the decree and the Certificate of Title (No. 0-
20) were issued in the name of Maria Cano, subject to reserva troncal in
favor of Eustaquia Guerrero.
3. Counsel for the reservee (reservatorio) Guerrero filed a motion with
the Cadastral Court, alleging the death of the original registered owner
and reservista, Maria Cano, on September 8, 1955, and praying that the
original Certificate of Title be ordered cancelled and a new one issued
in favor of movant Eustaquia Guerrero
4. This was opposed by the sons of the reservista. who contended that the
application and operation of the reserva troncal should be ventilated in
an ordinary contentious proceeding, and that the Registration Court did
not have jurisdiction to grant the motion.
5. The lower court granted the petition for the reason that the death of the
reservista vested the ownership of the property in the petitioner as the
sole reservatario troncal.
6. The oppositors, heirs of the reservista Maria Cano, duly appealed from
the order, insisting that the ownership of the reservatario can not be
decreed in a mere proceeding under sec. 112 of Act 496, but requires a
judicial administration proceedings.
7. In this connection, appellants argue that the reversion in favor of the
reservatario requires the declaration of the existence of the following
facts:
a. The property was received by a descendant by gratuitous title
from an ascendant or from a brother or sister
b. Said descendant dies without issue;
c. The property is inherited by another ascendant by operation of law;
and
d. The existence of relatives within the third degree belonging to the
line from which said property came.
Issue: Whether Guererro is entitled to the land in question. [YES.]
The requisites enumerated by appellants have already been declared to
exist by the decree of registration wherein the rights of the appellee as
reservatario troncal were expressly recognized.
Lot No. 1799 was acquired by the applicant Maria Cano by inheritance
from her deceased daughter, Lourdes Guerrero who, in turn, inherited the
same from her father Evaristo Guerrero and, hence, falls squarely under
the provisions of Article 891 of the Civil Code
Eustaquia Guerrero, being the nearest of kin, excludes all the other private
oppositors, whose degree of relationship to the decedent is remoter.
This decree having become final, all persons are barred thereby from
contesting the existence of the constituent elements of the reserva.
The only requisites for the passing of the title from the reservista to the
appellee are: (1) the death of the reservista; and (2) the fact that the
reservatario has survived the reservista
It is a consequence of these principles that upon the death of the
reservista, the reservatario nearest to the prepositus (the appellee in this
case) becomes, automatically and by operation of law, the owner of the
reservable property.
It is equally well settled that the reservable property can not be
transmitted by a reservista to her or his own successors mortis causa, (like
appellants herein) so long as a reservatorio within the third degree from
the prepositus and belonging to the line whence the property came, is in
existence when the reservista dies.
The rights of the reservataria Eustaquia Guerrero have been expressly
recognized, and it is nowhere claimed that there are other reservatarios of
equal or nearer degree. It is thus apparent that the heirs of the reservista
are merely endeavoring to prolong their enjoyment of the reservable
property to the detriment of the party lawfully entitled thereto.